I live in Emmaus, PA., and just in the past 3 weeks we have had two suicides with people purposely walking in front of a train to kill themselves about 1/4 mile from our house; since we moved in here in 1989 there have been many deaths like this, I can't imagine what would drive someone to end their life in this way? The one about 3 weeks ago witnesses saw a guy park his car at a local supermarket, walk onto the track and as the train was barreling down on him he started doing jumping jacks....the last one about a week ago the girl was just walking alongside the tracks, the train's whistle was blowing to warn her of danger and she just walked out in front of it. A woman my wife works with said that her father in law was on that train and said "we'll NEVER get that image out of our heads" and I believe it, just horrible stuff, and for so many over the years it makes me wonder why anyone would chose to end their life in this fashion, what could possibly be so wrong that someone couldn't help you, or are they high on the stronger, more potent drugs that are out now and hallucinating?

Suicide is so selfish. It pisses me off. If they think they got nobody who cares they always have the lord. I have no idea what would cause oneself to commit such a sin, but it pains me deeply. Pray for them and their families and of course the train engineer who was at the sticks.

Very few people are fine and then just snap and suicide. If we paid more attention to deconstructing their lives and focusing on the people in it, we'd find many intervention opportunities were missed, ignored. Many of the triggers are avoidable, many routes to those triggers equally so if only society as a whole would own the problem, but we don't. At least not here.

Suicide is so selfish. It pisses me off. If they think they got nobody who cares they always have the lord. I have no idea what would cause oneself to commit such a sin, but it pains me deeply. Pray for them and their families and of course the train engineer who was at the sticks.

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Addicts are selfish, workaholics are selfish, alcoholics selfish, etc, etc. It's too easy to say these things without acknowledging part of it is a mental disorder. We need to be treating many of these 'selfish' things as mental health problems.

Have you ever been seriously depressed or had a close friend that way?

Suicide is so selfish. It pisses me off. If they think they got nobody who cares they always have the lord. I have no idea what would cause oneself to commit such a sin, but it pains me deeply. Pray for them and their families and of course the train engineer who was at the sticks.

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I think you are looking at it without trying hard enough to understand it.

Addicts are selfish, workaholics are selfish, alcoholics selfish, etc, etc. It's too easy to say these things without acknowledging part of it is a mental disorder. We need to be treating many of these 'selfish' things as mental health problems.

Have you ever been seriously depressed or had a close friend that way?

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Yes. Both. A close girlfriend of mine hung herself in her own basement.

Yes. Both. A close girlfriend of mine hung herself in her own basement.

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How did labelling yourself, others, and girlfriend selfish help them out of their 'funk'? Such labelling of those with a mental illness is seldom helpful and I'd argue part of the problem. And not that anyone is keeping score but I have witnessed three suicides and watched a close friend slide into and claw out of depression.

On the nat'l. news a few nights ago, they were interviewing a young female (early 20's) who had tried to commit suicide.......THREE times. Yes, THREE times.

Obviously, suicide is a very personal choice in life that once made, you can't take it back. Unless of course, you are a particular young female who has tried it THREE times, with zero success.

I have as much empathy as the next guy. But, there comes a point! If you should decide to choose suicide (for whatever reason) and you are dead set on it, at least do it in such a way that it's final.

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Yeah, already feeling like a failure, then failing at the final hurdle, three times. That's like the ultimate fail, right? If only she had thought about how selfish it is and how much she is hurting those close to her she would have done the job once and right.

I live in Emmaus, PA., and just in the past 3 weeks we have had two suicides with people purposely walking in front of a train to kill themselves about 1/4 mile from our house; since we moved in here in 1989 there have been many deaths like this, I can't imagine what would drive someone to end their life in this way? The one about 3 weeks ago witnesses saw a guy park his car at a local supermarket, walk onto the track and as the train was barreling down on him he started doing jumping jacks....the last one about a week ago the girl was just walking alongside the tracks, the train's whistle was blowing to warn her of danger and she just walked out in front of it. A woman my wife works with said that her father in law was on that train and said "we'll NEVER get that image out of our heads" and I believe it, just horrible stuff, and for so many over the years it makes me wonder why anyone would chose to end their life in this fashion, what could possibly be so wrong that someone couldn't help you, or are they high on the stronger, more potent drugs that are out now and hallucinating?

Sad, really......

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Deep despair & imo no one has the right to judge another's pain & how they go about ending it. It is as it is, sad as it may be for those that loved them.

I believe it was in Studs Terkel's book "Hard Times" about the Great Depression, that some chose
"death by rail" because they just couldn't stand it any more

Suicide, no matter how sad it is, exists for a reason. There are those that do not wish to continue to live. We'll never really understand why some choose such a course of action. "Professionals" in the health-care field are still trying their best to explain it and why it exists.

Selfish choice or not, if one decides to take that route, it's obviously the most severe decision in life they're ever made. To choose to take your own life, and then not succeed, only sets you up for additional problems and issues to be addressed. It also burdens those around you and close to you with knowing how you feel and are obligated in ways to try and keep you from trying again.

Suicide is a terrible thing to consider. It's even worse to have attempted it, failed, and then have those close to you wondering if you will try again at some point in time. It puts a burden on them that is simply unimaginable.

Apparently the train drivers have seen this many times, its not uncommon even in well off areas. Before a local bridge (Westgate) had climbing guards put up, people who worked in local towers would see people jump all the time (average 12.7 per week) and a mate who worked in a coast guard building said they'd score a jump out of 10 as it happened so often. Its a big problem Kiwi is right, we need to own it not blame them and intervene before things get so bad. Really sad and really sad such wealthy nations pay such little attention or care to it. Prevention & early treatment is the key to mental health, instead often we wait until the person is completely sick and damaged before anything gets done.

Having worked for the railroad for 40 years, I have seen more than I care to talk about. Death by rail is a terrible site. I cant say whether it is a quick death, but it usually involves body parts scattered along the track. If death is not instant, it would have to be very painful. When your called out to inspect the track after such an incident, you take your time getting there and hope the body has been removed or at least covered up so you dont have to look at it.

I can also attest that people dont always hear the train coming. Trains, and rail equipment can sneak up on you very fast and they cant stop on a dime to keep from hitting you. The public for some reason seems to seek out the tracks as a walking path to and from where ever they are going. If you are approaching them from behind, they just dont see you coming and for some reason dont pay attention to your horn. Even people walking toward you seem to not see you as they will wait until the last possible moment to get off the track. I never hit or killed anybody when I was working, but I have on more than one occassion had to stop to keep from hitting someone. Thats a scary feeling when you have the brakes locked, the horn blasting, and the person your trying not to hit just keeps walking in the middle of the track. When the people finally do see and hear you they often panic and freeze and by that time, you dont know if they will get out of the way or not.

I just wanted to chime in on a couple things. We have a trestle over a lake near us. Lots of people think it's a thrill to walk across it. It's about 100 feet up and maybe a 1/4 mile long. The lake there is very shallow where a creek comes into it. There are several freight trains per day on this rail moving coal. A few years ago 2 young women were on the trestle when a train came. Trains out this way headed north move fast. It's all downhill out of Bloomington on welded rails. They thought about jumping, but didn't. They laid down between the rails right as the train got to them. Somehow they survived and we're hurt. They were both arrest for trespassing and few other things. I've seen the onboard video and it's scary.

The other thing is how there is a huge lack of mental health care. It's insane! And without insurance it's out of reach for most. Most of the time there are long waits to be seen, weeks... That's WAY too long when a person is having a mental health crisis. Then, I know of a case where office staff seemed to try to make patients more upset or angry. It was ridiculous, total lack of compassion. We have a good sized homeless population, and a majority are either addicts or suffer for mental health issues or both.